Alberta takes home gold, silver on first day of Canada Winter Games

Brooklyn McDougall and Kaleb Muller won Alberta's first two medals, a gold and silver, respectively, on the first day of the Canada Winter Games 2019.

Team Alberta’s first gold medal of the 2019 Canada Winter Games was won by a Calgary female speed skater.

Brooklyn McDougall finished the long track speed skating 1,500 metre race with a time of 2:16.69.

“It’s a pretty amazing feeling right now. I knew the energy would be pretty high, but not this high!” she said after the race.

“We have been working for these Canada Games the whole season, putting a lot of hard hours on the ice and on the bike have led to this moment,” the 20-year-old said.

The race took place at Great Chief Park in Red Deer.

To help with the cold, McDougall used tape on her face to reduce the effect of the wind.

“The biggest thing is to stay low and keep the tempo up so the wind doesn’t affect you a lot.”

She place 26^th in the same event in the 2015 Canada Games in Prince George.

Quebec’s Rose-Anne Grenier and Emmanuelle Côté finished second and third in the event.

Alberta currently sits at the top of the medal standing with one gold and one silver medal.

Competing in his first Canada Games, Kaleb Muller, a 20-year-old from Cranford, Alta., won the silver medal by racing 1:57:55 in the men’s 1,500 metre.

“It’s been great so far. It has been a goal of mine to win a medal at Canada Games,” Muller said.